With pervasive electronic communications networks now becoming ubiquitous, electronic files can be rapidly transmitted within an organization's network and even across geographically distributed networks such as the Internet. By simply forwarding an electronic mail message, electronic files can be rapidly distributed to many persons with only a few key strokes or mouse clicks. In the business world, as well as in academic and government network environments, this ability to rapidly transfer data has greatly accelerated productivity.
A consequence of this ability to rapidly distribute electronic information is that unintended and/or unauthorized release of proprietary, confidential, or otherwise non-public data files can easily occur. This type of unintended and/or unauthorized release can range from inadvertently forwarding an email message, to a deliberate release of confidential or proprietary information to competitors, press members or other unauthorized recipients. Once such a release has occurred, large amounts of resources may be expended trying to determine how the information escaped so that future releases may be avoided. However, it is often quite difficult to determine who is responsible for the “leak” and how that person obtained the information to begin with, that is, the path the information followed to get to that person.